Florida Pearl completed a Hennessy Gold Cup treble at Leopardstown yesterday and is now as low as 8 to 1 to finally get it right in the most valued Gold Cup of all at Cheltenham next month.
His trainer Willie Mullins now also has another Gold Cup contender in Alexander Banquet who returned from the sidelines to finish a two-length runner-up. But while Mullins smiled, Ruby Walsh was left wondering about what might have been.
Mullins's stable jockey, who also missed out on the Hennessy last year, was ruled out of action for a week when taking a fall at Naas on Saturday and the top English rider Richard Johnson brilliantly stepped into the breach.
Johnson and Florida Pearl gelled immediately and dominated the £110,000 race after the second favourite Nick Dundee fell at the fifth fence.
The veteran Dorans Pride was a persistent challenger to the 5 to 4 favourite but the most persistent of all was Alexander Banquet who looked soundly beaten before the last but stayed on well in the heavy ground.
"Richard Dunwoody always thought highly of this horse and now I understand why," said Johnson who beat Florida Pearl in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last year on Looks Like Trouble.
"Every year there are three or four horses in the Gold Cup that everyone would love to ride and Florida Pearl is still one of them," added Johnson.
However Mullins said: "I hope Ruby will ride him and I will have a chat with the owner Mr (Archie) O'Leary. But my view is to get the horse there first and then worry about a jockey!"
The Co Carlow trainer was also thrilled with Alexander Banquet who hadn't run since November but is now as low as 10 to 1 for Cheltenham.
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